Rensselaer ready for rematch

rensselaer >> If he’s being perfectly honest, Steven Harwood is just really excited about the prospect of playing in today’s Class D Super Bowl between Rensselaer and Cambridge.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Schuylerville High School.

The Rams (4-1, 8-1) senior quarterback has missed out on the last two times his team has squared off against Cambridge (5-0, 9-0), including a Week 6 showdown earlier this season that saw Harwood forced out of the game in the first quarter with concussion-like symptoms. Cambridge rallied to win that game, 46-27.

But now, with Rensselaer returning to the championship game for the sixth straight season, and his team looking for its second straight Section II title, Harwood is ready to play.

“I’m really looking forward to this game,” Harwood said. “Especially considering the fact that I didn’t play against these guys last year because I was injured and I only got to play a series-and-a-half this year.”

Of course, Harwood and his teammates are feeling an extra boost of confidence after last week’s 42-34 semifinal victory over Greenwich in a back-and-forth battle, which forced the Rams to hold on late in the game.

“Now we know we can beat the good teams,” Harwood said. “We saw ourselves, Greenwich and Cambridge as the best teams in Class D. Now that we’re confident that we can beat the good teams, we’re more ready than we were previously.”

While the victory was certainly a confidence boost, and keeps the Rams’ season alive, the focus of the team throughout all 48 minutes was perhaps the most important thing to come out of the matchup.

Throughout the regular season, the Rams have faced challenges when it comes to the final minutes of games. In fact, following Harwood’s injury in the Week 6 loss to Cambridge, Rensselaer had a difficult time maintaining its game plan.

“We didn’t’ play four quarters against Cambridge the first time; they wore us out,” Rensselaer coach Joel Preston said. “I was disappointed in our efforts. We just have to play four quarters this time.”

After finding a bit of momentum in last week’s victory, the Rams are hoping to channel that into their powerful offense.

In the past nine weeks Rensselaer has averaged just over 36 points per game, while racking up 3,280 total yards and splitting almost evenly between a rushing and passing game.

“I feel like with our team, there are so many weapons, you can’t just key on one person,” Harwood, who has recorded over 2,000 all-purpose yards this season, said. “If you key on me, I can hand the ball off to my brother or throw to one of my great receivers. You key on one of those receivers and I throw to a different one or we can run the ball.”

With everyone currently healthy on offense and, most likely, playing in their usual roles this afternoon, the Rams are confident that they’ll be able to put points on the board.

“When everyone is in their normal positions, we’re a much more dynamic offense and we’re definitely more than a threat,” senior receiver Jake Forgea said. “If everyone stays healthy, and in their spots, I think we have a good shot of it.”

While the expectations are certainly high for a team as perennially successful as Rensselaer, the Rams are more than ready for this afternoon’s game and are anxious for it to potentially springboard them into the state tournament.

“We’re definitely excited,” Forgea said. “After last year’s season and falling down in Kingston, we just want to, hopefully, get past this game and then get back to Dietz and see what we can do.”